The Story with Many Beginnings
by HermioneGirl96
Summary: It's been seven years since Jason and Piper broke up. When Piper's father dies, Piper decides to move back to New Rome. The only thing is, she doesn't want to live alone right away, and it's not a good time for her to crash with Percy and Annabeth, since Annabeth is nearly nine months pregnant. What will happen when Piper moves in with Jason? A one-shot.


**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns the characters and setting.**

Jason hadn't been expecting an Iris message from Annabeth, but he answered immediately. Annabeth and Percy's baby was due in a couple weeks; maybe it was coming early? But when Annabeth's pregnant form swam into view, she looked far too calm to be in labor, so there went that theory. "Annabeth, hi," said Jason. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hi, Jason." Annabeth looked sad and her voice was quieter than usual. "I don't really know how to tell you this. Piper's dad passed away."

Jason rocked backward. "What?" It only took a moment to steady himself, however. "I'll Iris-message Piper later. Send my condolences, see if there's anything I can do."

"Well, I was talking to Piper," Annabeth said, "and there is something you can do, but it's a big ask."

"What is it?" Jason asked. "You know I'd do anything for Piper." It had been seven years since they'd broken up, and they'd long since become friends who used to date rather than thinking of each other primarily as exes.

"She wants to move back to New Rome," Annabeth explained.

"Oh. Does she need me to scout apartments? I can totally—"

"She doesn't want to live alone right now," Annabeth interrupted. "And it's just not a great time for her to crash with Percy and me, with the baby coming. If you're not open to letting her stay with you, we could ask Frank and Hazel, or maybe Reyna, but she's closest with you. You can totally say no, but I thought it would be worth checking."

"Is _Piper_ okay with this?" Jason asked.

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. She's the one who suggested it. She understands if you're not, obviously—we all know this could be awkward and nobody's going to judge you if you say no, but—"

"No, it's fine," said Jason. "I want to be there for her. I just wanted to make sure this was her idea."

"It was," Annabeth assured him. "So you're sure you're okay with this?"

"Yeah," said Jason.

Annabeth smiled. "Cool. Do you want to Iris-message Leo? And talk to Hazel and Frank? I'll call Nico and Will and Reyna, but Leo would probably rather hear from you, and you and Hazel and Frank might want to coordinate traveling to the funeral. Percy and I would go, but, well . . ." She rubbed her swollen belly.

"Right, of course," Jason said. "Yeah, I can get in contact with Leo and Hazel and Frank. Thanks for getting in touch. How are you doing?"

"I'm all right," said Annabeth. "I'm excited for this baby to no longer be inside of me, but, you know."

"I'm pretty sure I don't know, actually," said Jason.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Figure of speech."

Jason smiled. "Right. Anything else, or should I get ready to Iris-message the others?"

"That was it," said Annabeth. "Bye, Jason."

"See you later!" said Jason. With a ripple, the image of Annabeth disappeared.

Jason fussed around with his fountain and solar lamp setup for a few minutes before he got the spray just right. Then he took a drachma out of his pocket, threw it into the spray, and said, "Accept my offering, O Iris. Call Leo Valdez."

OoOoO

Jason had to admit that being a son of Jupiter had its perks. Unlike Percy and Nico, he could fly in airplanes just fine. Heck, for shorter distances, he could fly without an airplane. But there was no way he was going to make it to Oklahoma with Frank and Hazel in time for the funeral by relying on the _venti_, so he booked some plane tickets (he paid for his own and Hazel paid for herself and Frank) and flew out the next day.

Tahlequah, Oklahoma was over an hour from Tulsa, which had the nearest airport. Jason had planned on renting a car, but apparently Hazel had talked to Piper and Piper had agreed to pick the trio up from the airport. Jason was glad Hazel had been the one to have that conversation—he would probably have insisted Piper stay home and prepare for the funeral, but he was glad he'd be seeing her sooner rather than later, and this was probably what Piper wanted.

Piper was waiting outside security when Jason, Hazel, and Frank arrived in Oklahoma, which was good, because it meant she hadn't charmspoken her way through security. Piper hugged Frank first for several seconds, and then Hazel for at least a minute, rocking back and forth, and then she threw her arms around Jason. She'd managed not to cry until then, but as soon as her arms wrapped around Jason a sob escaped her throat. Jason held her tightly and she clung to him in response, dampening his shirt with her tears.

"Piper?" Frank asked awkwardly while Piper was still in Jason's arms. "Do you want me to drive?"

Piper pulled back from Jason just a little and wiped her face with her hands. "Um, sure, that might be good." She pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and handed them to Frank. "Let's go."

It wasn't a large airport, so it didn't take the four demigods long to reach Piper's car. Frank took the driver's seat, Hazel took shotgun, and Piper and Jason sat in the back. Jason started to buckle himself in, but then Piper started crying again, so Jason moved into the middle seat and put an arm around Piper.

The first ten minutes of the drive were quiet except for the sound of Piper crying. Then Piper drew back from Jason a bit and dried her face on the back of her hands again. Her voice wobbled as she said, "Sorry about that. So, guys, what's up?"

Jason was lost for words, but luckily Hazel was not. The two women kept up a conversation for most of the car ride, Frank occasionally asked for directions, and Jason sat there in silence and rubbed small circles on Piper's far shoulder with his thumb.

Piper had moved back to Tahlequah after graduating from New Rome University with a major in anthropology and a minor in critical race studies, but she'd gotten an apartment rather than moving back in with her father. She'd been coaching self-defense classes since moving back, something she'd started during college, and she'd also been working on an anthropology research/oral storytelling project, trying to empower other Cherokee people to tell their own stories and make their collective history more accessible. She hadn't been making much money at either endeavor, and her father had never regained his lost wealth after the mess with the Roman emperors, so her apartment was pretty small. She offered to take the couch and let Frank and Hazel share her bed, but no one else in the group supported that proposal. In the end, Piper kept her bed, Hazel took the couch, and Frank and Jason slept on the floor.

The funeral took place two days later. Leo arrived solo on Festus just in time and greeted Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Frank like long-lost family. It had been years since Leo and Calypso broke up, and Calypso had long since moved to Mount Olympus into a house Annabeth lovingly designed, but Leo still lived at the Waystation with Emmie and Josephine. Unlike most of the other questers, he hadn't even applied to New Rome University, opting instead to take an apprenticeship at an auto body shop and then stay on to work there. He and his girlfriend, Samantha, had been dating for two years now, and Jason got the impression from Iris-message conversations that Leo was planning on proposing soon.

Although Hazel offered to give Tristan McLean Greek or Roman funeral rites—she was double-majoring in classics and finance, and her classics education combined with the time she and Nico had spent with their dad gave Hazel plenty of expertise in funeral rites of both cultures—Piper politely refused, opting instead to give her father a Cherokee funeral. It wasn't particularly well-attended; it seemed that Tristan hadn't ever gotten over his financial downfall enough to make a lot of new friends when he moved to Oklahoma, and he'd been out of Hollywood long enough that his former co-stars didn't attend either. Jason was glad that Piper at least had a community of friends at her side—mortals from Oklahoma as well as her fellow demigods—as she planned and executed the funeral.

After the funeral was done, Leo, Hazel, and Frank flew back to their respective homes (although the word "flew" meant something entirely different for Leo than it did for Hazel and Frank), but Jason stayed behind to help Piper pack up her belongings, sell some, give away others, ship some to California, and cram whatever would fit into her car. It was quiet work. Sometimes Piper was wretchedly sad and needed to sit down in the middle of the boxes and cry. Jason's heart ached for her when this happened, but he was glad that at least he could keep her company in her grief. Other times, briefly, things seemed fine, and Piper or Jason would crack the occasional joke or tell a story about something they found in the apartment. Mostly, they worked silently in parallel, and Jason suspected that Piper was just as uncertain about how to handle this much extended time together as he was.

Five days after the funeral, about an hour after lunch, Jason and Piper hauled the last box out to the car, and Piper said, "We may as well start driving."

Jason dusted off his hands and nodded. "How far do you want to get today?"

Piper chewed her lip for a moment and then said, "On a good day, it's about six and a half hours to Amarillo. We should be able to get there before it's really late if we don't stop too much."

"Got it. That sounds fine."

Piper got into the driver's seat and Jason followed suit, settling into the passenger's side. Piper drove first to her landlord's house to drop off her key and close out her lease, and then she and Jason set off heading southwest on US-62 W, listening to a mix CD Piper said she'd made years ago. It was half pop, half indie—not exactly Jason's style, but he found he didn't mind letting the music wash over him as he sat beside Piper in the otherwise quiet car. Piper didn't seem to need a map as she merged from one highway to the next. "How come you know this route so well?" Jason asked after an hour of relatively little chatter.

"Dad always drove me to California for school, remember?" Piper replied. Then she sniffled. "Damn. I was trying not to think about Dad."

"Oh, sorry."

Piper sighed. "It's not your fault. You don't need to apologize for anything. You're doing me a huge favor, letting me stay with you for a while. Several huge favors, actually, what with all the help packing and just getting me through the past week and everything."

"Hey. Piper. Don't worry about it," Jason replied. "You're one of my best friends. Of course I'd want to do this for you."

"Well, thanks," said Piper.

The conversation ebbed and flowed the rest of the way to Amarillo—sometimes the two reminisced about their time on the Argo II and the months following the Battle of Camp Half-Blood, or debated the finer points of Homer and Virgil (whose works had been required reading for all first-years at New Rome University), while other times they let Piper's many mix CDs provide a soundtrack to their private musings. Piper and Jason switched places every couple of hours so that neither of them would succumb to highway hypnosis on the desolate road. The six and a half hours passed faster than Jason would have anticipated, and then they were in Amarillo, finishing off a fast-food dinner and checking into a hotel.

"We have rooms with one king bed and rooms with two queen beds. Which would you like?" the woman at the hotel check-in counter asked.

"Two queens," said Jason, at the same time as Piper said, "Two beds."

"Not together, then?" the woman asked, looking from Jason to Piper and back while tapping her long (probably fake) nails on the counter.

"Right," said Piper, while Jason said, "Nope."

The woman smiled at Jason. "Well, I get off at eleven if you're interested . . ."

Jason fought the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm not going to sexile my friend, and both of us need sleep."

As Jason and Piper rolled their suitcases toward the elevator, Piper asked, "Does that happen often?"

Jason shrugged as the two of them got into the elevator. "Sort of? Not in New Rome, because most of us have known each other for a long time and people know I'm not into casual sex. But when I leave New Rome, yeah."

Piper nodded. "Yeah, I get that. The stuff people say to me is _gross._"

"Ugh, I bet it is. I'm sorry," said Jason. "Usually the stuff I get is pretty tame."

The elevator arrived at their floor, so the two of them got out and trudged down the hall. Jason was suddenly feeling the long drive much more than he had been a few minutes prior. When they got to their room, Jason face-planted onto the bed by the window and mumbled into his pillow, "You can take the first shower."

OoOoO

Two long, quiet days of driving later, Jason and Piper arrived in New Rome. As the two of them brought all the boxes from Piper's car into the living room of Jason's apartment, Jason began to realize how little he and Piper had actually done to prepare for semi-permanently living together. Sure, they'd been sharing spaces for the past week and a half, but this was going to be different. This was his home. He had a job, and a life, and a routine, and while some of that would look the same with a roommate who happened to be his ex and one of his best friends, some of it would look different, and he wasn't sure he was fully prepared for that.

When the car was unpacked, Jason flopped down on the couch and looked up at Piper, who was standing in front of him. "We didn't talk about this earlier, but I think we should have some ground rules for the apartment. Dirty dishes are okay in the left side of the sink, but I want the right side clear. If you really don't have time and the left side is full, leave your dishes on the table, but the sooner you wash them the happier I'll be. I'll put the toilet seat down and wipe the sink after I shave. I want you to clean your hair out of the shower drain. I'm comfortable combining laundry, but I understand if you're not. We can work out chores later. Feel free to have any of our mutual friends over anytime, but run it by me if you want to have a party or invite someone over who I don't know. Your love life is your business, not mine; please keep it that way. If you need the apartment, you can put a 'do not disturb' sign on the door, but I'd really prefer advance notice. Does that all seem reasonable?"

Piper, who had flopped down on the couch next to Jason, nodded. "Yeah, definitely. I'm not sure about combining laundry, but ask me again in a few weeks."

"Right, sounds good," said Jason. "It's okay for this living together thing to be a work in progress. So, now that we've got the boxes inside, do you want an apartment tour?" he asked, standing.

Piper stood, too. "Sure, sounds good."

"Okay," said Jason. "There's not a ton to see. Obviously, this is the living room. You can see the kitchen from here." He gestured to his right, where a kitchenette was separated from the living room by only a raised countertop. "We can work out whether we cook together or separately later. Anyway, the door on the right is my bedroom, and the door on the left is the spare, which means it's yours now." He walked forward and opened both doors. His room was a little messy, since he hadn't had a ton of time to clean before flying out to Oklahoma a week and a half ago. The spare bedroom was pristine, if plain. Then he gestured down the hall to the left. "The bathroom's at the end of the hall. And that's all there is. If you need me and I'm in my room, knock, obviously. I'll do the same for you. Do you shower at night or in the morning?"

Piper laughed. "Oh, right, the last time we lived together showers weren't really a thing."

Jason grimaced. "Yeah, hygiene on the Argo II left something to be desired."

"I shower at night, or right after teaching self-defense," said Piper.

"Cool. I shower in the morning, or right after teaching sword fighting," Jason said.

"Gods, it's going to be weird to be around other people who know close-range combat again," Piper mused.

Jason nodded. "I bet. How are you doing?"

Piper sighed. "Oh, you know. Really sad. But I'll get through it. Not the first time someone important to me has died, you know?"

"Yeah. Do you want a hug?"

"Definitely," said Piper, so Jason pulled her close and held her there in the hallway for a long time.

OoOoO

Jason went back to work the next day. He and Annabeth had majored in architecture together, Jason minoring in physics and Annabeth in computer science, and, when they'd graduated, they'd started an architecture firm called Ace Architecture, named after their rhyming last names (though, by graduation, Annabeth and Percy were married and both sporting the last name Chase-Jackson). Ace Architecture built dwellings for the gods on Mount Olympus as well as temples at both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, and they were expanding into residential construction at both camps and even some projects for mortals when Annabeth's father referred people their way.

Jason could tell Annabeth was glad to see him back in the little office they rented together, not just because she was smiling but also because she set a cup of coffee in front of him without him even asking. After fetching coffee, Annabeth lowered herself gingerly into the chair next to Jason and opened her laptop. It wasn't as good as Daedalus's laptop, but it had been built by Carrie Norris, one of the rare demigods who was also a legacy, in this case a child of Trivia, the Roman form of Hecate, and a legacy of Athena. Carrie had double-majored in magic and computer science and was on a mission to build technology that was safe for demigods to use. She hadn't mastered cell phones yet, but more and more demigods were using the special laptops she built with a bit of help from her boyfriend, a son of Vulcan.

Once Annabeth logged into her laptop, she pulled up the blueprint of the latest temple she and Jason were designing: the temple to Pomona, the Roman goddess of plenty. Jason was so glad that Annabeth had decided to join him in his task of building temples to minor deities—it was so much less overwhelming to be Pontifex Maximus now that he was done with school, could focus on the task full time, and had a business partner in the endeavor. Annabeth and Jason had finished the skeleton of the temple before Jason had left for Oklahoma, and it seemed Annabeth had planned most of the ornamentation and details in Jason's absence, judging by how much more complete the blueprint looked.

"I figured Corinthian columns would be more appropriate than Doric or Ionic given that Pomona is the goddess of plenty," said Annabeth. "And we can commission one of the art majors to make the statue of her, right?"

"Yeah," said Jason.

"Cool. And then I thought having some stone cornucopias next to the altar would probably make sense, and—" Annabeth broke off with a gasp and put a hand to her stomach.

Jason whipped his head toward Annabeth and stared at her in alarm. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Annabeth was quiet for several long moments and then let out a shaky breath. "I think that was a contraction."

"Oh my gods," said Jason.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I've been researching this for months. I've got hours until the baby comes. I'm fine. Just help me to the infirmary and then get Percy."

Jason stood and helped Annabeth to her feet. He retained a grip on her hand as the two of them left their office and walked to the infirmary. They had nearly reached the infirmary when Annabeth's grip on Jason's hand changed from gentle to painful, and she stood for a moment in the middle of the path, biting her lip hard. After about 30 seconds, she loosened her grip on Jason's hand and let out a breath. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay, okay, we're good."

At the infirmary, Jason and Annabeth were met by a 13-year-old son of Apollo who immediately fetched Ariana Wang, daughter of Aesculapius and one of the older healers in New Rome. Unlike some of the demigods who worked there, she was an actual adult who'd gone through the premed program at New Rome University and med school in the mortal world. A lot of demigods who took that route never returned to New Rome, opting instead to become rich in the mortal world by being exceptionally skilled doctors, but Dr. Wang had returned and taken charge of the trickier and more serious medical concerns facing the residents of New Rome. Jason had only ever seen her in passing—when he got sick or injured, it was usually something the teenage children of Apollo and Aesculapius could handle—but he knew from conversations with Percy and Annabeth that Dr. Wang had been in charge of Annabeth's prenatal care.

"Contractions?" Dr. Wang asked Annabeth.

Annabeth nodded.

"That's exciting!" said Dr. Wang. "The next few hours are going to be really painful, but then you're going to have a beautiful child. Let's get you to one of the private rooms, all right?"

"Yeah," said Annabeth.

"I'll get Percy," said Jason, letting go of Annabeth's hand. He left the infirmary and ran to the Field of Mars, where he expected Percy would be teaching sword combat. Usually Percy did marine conservation work in cooperation with with the Council of Cloven Elders, acting as a liaison between demigods and satyrs, but he'd taken a break from that job when Annabeth's pregnancy had reached its eighth month so that he'd be closer to home when she went into labor. He'd been teaching sword fighting since then, much to the delight of the teenagers at Camp Jupiter—Percy was a more popular former praetor than either Jason or Reyna, for reasons Jason had never fully understood, and the Roman demigods flocked to Percy's lessons.

Jason reached the Field of Mars in a mere three minutes and shouted across the field, "Percy!"

Two swords, of the many whose clashes were ringing out across the field, stilled. A head of dark hair turned; a sword dropped, and, ten seconds later, Percy was standing in front of Jason, pushing sweaty hair out of his wide green eyes and panting slightly. "It's Annabeth, isn't it." It wasn't even a question.

"Yeah. Her contractions started," said Jason.

"Oh my gods. Oh my gods. Oh my gods. I'm gonna be a dad," said Percy, and then, without waiting for Jason or saying anything else, he sprinted in the direction from which Jason had just come.

Jason, suddenly alone, nodded to himself. "Right, then." He set off, walking now, toward New Rome University. He wasn't sure what class Hazel had right now, or whether she was even in class at the moment, but the university was only made up of three buildings—one with classrooms, one with professors' offices, and a library—since there were relatively few Roman demigods and legacies of college age and interested in attending New Rome University at any one time. Therefore, Jason didn't anticipate a lot of trouble finding Hazel. He walked into the classroom building, peering through the windows of each classroom. Eventually he found Hazel in a classroom where a middle-aged female professor was lecturing to a rapt audience of five students. Jason thought about barging into the classroom, but he decided that it probably wasn't necessary; Annabeth was almost certainly right that it would be hours before she delivered the baby, so Jason sank down to the floor and sat down in the hallway to wait for Hazel's class to get out.

About half an hour later, the classroom door opened and all five students entered the hallway. Jason got to his feet. A couple of the students gave him quizzical looks, but no one spoke except for Hazel, who said, "What are you doing here, Jason?"

"Looking for you," said Jason. "Annabeth went into labor at work this morning and I was figuring you, Frank, Piper, and I would probably head to the infirmary. I came for you first."

"I have class this afternoon," said Hazel slowly. She bit her lip for a moment. Then she said, "Oh, whatever. I can skip it this once. I'm a senior. It's practically my right."

Jason smiled at her. "Yep. Do you want to split up to get Frank and Piper, or should we stick together?"

"Let's stick together," said Hazel, looping her arm through Jason's. "Frank should be in the library."

"And Piper's at my apartment," said Jason.

Hazel and Jason walked together to the library, which was just across the quad from the building where Hazel's class had been. Frank had double-majored in history and classics and had been spending his time since graduation doing archival research with Ella the harpy, trying to piece together a more coherent history of the oracles, Camp Jupiter, and demigods in general. The easiest place to find him tended to be the basement of the library, though he spent a good amount of time on the Field of Mars as well.

Frank was so absorbed in his work that Hazel had to tap him on the shoulder in order to get his attention; saying his name several times, increasingly loudly, had been entirely ineffective. When Hazel tapped Frank on the shoulder, he wheeled on her, half-drawing the sword he kept on his belt, before realizing who had just interrupted him. "Oh. Hazel. Jason. Hi."

"Annabeth's in labor," said Hazel without preamble.

"Oh my gods," said Frank.

"Yeah," said Jason. "We're heading to the infirmary as soon as we pick up Piper from my apartment."

"Holy Jupiter, the next generation is actually—wow," Frank babbled, not moving.

Hazel took his hand. "Yep. Now come on."

Jason, Hazel, and Frank left the library and headed to Jason's apartment, Hazel and Frank murmuring to each other while Jason walked ahead of them to give them privacy. Jason wondered if Hazel and Frank wanted kids, and, if so, when. Hazel was three years younger than Annabeth, but she was from an era when women had children rather early in their lives, and Frank and Hazel had been engaged since Christmas of Hazel's junior year at New Rome University, with the wedding planned for shortly after her graduation.

Jason felt a little sad thinking of Hazel and Frank having kids, and of facing Percy and Annabeth at the hospital. He'd dated several demigods over the course of the last seven years, but no relationship had lasted longer than a year, and most had been much shorter. He'd more or less given up on dating after he graduated from New Rome University—he'd allowed himself to let his hair down a bit in college, date around, and party when he wanted to, but since graduating he'd buckled down on his work as a business owner, architect, and pontifex. He was happy about his decisions, but at the same time he felt like something was missing in his life.

Jason unlocked the door to his apartment and found Piper bent over a box of her belongings. His living room already looked different—not only were there fewer boxes everywhere, but some of her Cherokee decor was set on various surfaces that had previously been clear. Jason felt odd at first, as if he were looking at someone else's apartment, but as he took in the sight he found that he didn't mind Piper's additions to his decorating. Everything kind of looked like it fit right where it was. Jason cleared his throat. "Piper."

Piper turned around. "Hey. I thought you were working today?"

"I was," said Jason. "Annabeth went into labor."

Piper dropped the towels she was holding. "Oh my gods."

"Hazel, Frank, and I are heading to the infirmary. I'm assuming you want to come?"

Piper was already picking her way across the room, over the boxes that covered most of the floor. "Yeah, of course."

Jason locked the door when Piper joined him, Hazel, and Frank in the hallway, and then the four of them left the apartment building and set off for the infirmary at a jog. When they reached the infirmary, a teenage child of Apollo greeted them and sent them to the second floor, where the private rooms were. There was a waiting room with doors on all sides leading to patients' rooms. On a whiteboard outside one of the rooms was scrawled, "Annabeth Chase-Jackson." Breathy screams were coming from that room.

Hazel was the one who knocked on the door. A teenage girl in scrubs answered Hazel's knock and looked at the four demigods clustered outside the door. "Annabeth? Percy? You have visitors. Do you want to let them in? It's two men and two women."

"Yeah, let them—aaaaaaahhh, holy Hera, that hurts—let them in," came Annabeth's strangled voice.

"Even the men?" the girl asked.

"You've heard of the Seven?" Annabeth said.

"Yes?" said the girl.

"You're in the presence of six of us. Let them in."

The girl stepped aside and Hazel, Frank, Jason, and Piper filed into Annabeth's room. Annabeth was in bed, blood covering the white sheets where her legs parted, the bald head of a baby peeking out in the opening. Percy stood by her side, Annabeth's hand clutching his, while Dr. Wang and another adult doctor, along with two teenage girls in scrubs, bustled around. Piper immediately walked to the side of the bed and took Annabeth's hand that wasn't holding Percy's.

"Piper, you don't want to—aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh—you don't want to do that," said Annabeth. "I'm going to kill your hand. My husband signed up for this. You didn't."

"You have permission to kill my hand," said Piper. "I want to help."

Hazel, Frank, and Jason stood awkwardly around the room as Annabeth continued to push the baby out, but the awkwardness eventually dissipated as sheer awe filled the room. It wasn't every day that they got to see a new person come into the world, and this was so much better than watching Nico summon a zombie. Annabeth screamed through labor as she crushed Percy and Piper's hands, but somehow no one, not even Annabeth or Percy, seemed to be freaking out about this.

Finally, what may have been one or seven hours later, the baby was free of Annabeth's body. Dr. Wang cut the umbilical cord, washed the infant off, and handed it to Annabeth with the words, "It's a girl."

Annabeth was still breathing heavily as she clutched the baby to her chest, but Percy stroked the baby's head and murmured, "Welcome to the world, Bianca Sally Chase-Jackson."

Hazel teared up. "Bianca?"

Percy smiled over at Hazel. "Yeah. She was important to us. We'll Iris-message Nico later and tell him. Actually, we've got a lot of people to Iris-message."

Annabeth kissed Bianca on the forehead. "Welcome to the world."

OoOoO

Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Frank all left the infirmary together awhile after that. They found that the sun was setting, and, since Jason and Piper hadn't had time to go grocery shopping yet since getting to California, Hazel and Frank invited them over to their apartment for dinner. It was nice—not like old times, when an undercurrent of saving-the-world stress had undergirded everything and made them all alternately punch-drunk and moody, but like new beginnings. Afterward, Piper and Jason walked back to their own apartment, did a bit more unpacking so Piper could sleep in her own sheets tonight, and then headed off to bed.

Jason woke at three a.m. from a nightmare featuring the Titan Krios. He was glad he no longer had nightmares that showed him the present or future—he'd take nightmares about the past any day, for sure. Not that he enjoyed having nightmares and being awake half the time he could be sleeping, but at least he knew what this nightmare meant, and it just meant he'd had a traumatic past, not that he was bound for a traumatic future. He'd get up, make himself some herbal tea, drink it, and then head back to bed.

Well, that was the plan, anyway. The plan didn't account for Piper sitting in the kitchen, silent tears running down her cheeks.

"Hey," Jason murmured.

Piper looked up at him. "Hey," she whispered back.

"Couldn't sleep?" Jason asked.

Piper nodded.

"What can I do for you?" Jason asked quietly. "Do you want tea? Do you want company or should I love you alone? We could go to the living room and put on a movie if you want."

Piper dried her face with her hands. "Tea and company sound good."

Jason got two mugs down from the cupboard, filled his electric kettle, and set it to boiling. "Do you want to talk about it, or do you want me to talk, or should we just be quiet?"

"You can talk," said Piper.

So Jason started babbling about Pomona's temple, and how it was co-owning a business with Annabeth, and how it had felt watching Annabeth give birth. When the tea water was boiling, he poured cups for himself and Piper and offered her his selection of herbal teas. She took berry while he took peppermint, and then he kept talking while the two of them sipped from their respective mugs. Eventually Piper stopped crying and her eyelids began to droop. When she finished her tea, she stretched, stood, and carried her mug to the sink. As she began to wash the cup, she said, "Thanks."

Jason swallowed the last of his tea and said, "No problem."

When Piper finished washing her mug, she headed back to her bedroom. Jason washed his own mug and then followed suit, getting back into bed.

OoOoO

In the weeks that followed, Jason fell back into his (now slightly modified) routine. He went to work by himself, since Annabeth was taking maternity leave, and finished designing Pomona's temple before moving on to the temple for Somnia. He took a few hours off on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to teach sword fighting classes, which were more in demand than they had been in a while, since Percy was home with Annabeth and Bianca now and therefore wasn't teaching combat.

Jason and Piper took turns cooking dinner, except when the two of them were invited to Hazel and Frank's for potluck dinners with Hazel, Frank, Annabeth, Percy, Bianca, and Nico (who came alone since Will was off at med school and Nico still had a year left at New Rome University). For those dinners, they'd both cook—Piper would make a vegetarian option and Jason would cook something with meat. It was nice to get out of the apartment and interact with other people, and to see Bianca, who looked more and more like a tiny person every week. At those gatherings, Piper often wound up talking with Annabeth or Hazel, and Jason made a point to talk to Nico as much as he could. He knew Nico was taking Will's absence hard, and, while the Nico wasn't exactly a member of the Seven and would never be as close with some of the questers as they were with each other, Jason loved him fiercely and wanted to make sure he was okay.

Meanwhile, Piper developed a routine of her own. She split her time between the Fields of Mars, where she taught knife combat, and the basement of the library at New Rome University, where she helped Frank and Ella with their research and tried to add an anthropological bent to the process. Both Jason and Piper both tended to go to bed early, since nightmares often kept them from sleeping for at least part of the night. Three a.m. tea sessions in the kitchen happened at least once a week, if not two or three times. As the weeks passed, Jason caught Piper crying less and less frequently, but it still happened occasionally. Those times, Piper tended to ask him to talk at her. Other times, when both Piper and Jason were trying to forget their nightmares, they had actual conversations about their jobs, their friends, and the adventures they'd shared in their teens.

It was during one of those conversations at three a.m. that Jason said, "Do you remember when we thought we'd be the next Percy and Annabeth?"

"Yeah. Gods, we were so naive," Piper replied. "I can't believe they made it this far. And Hazel and Frank!"

"I mean, it does make a certain amount of sense that questers wind up together," Jason said. "You need someone who gets it, you know?"

"Gods, yes," said Piper. "Even other demigods don't necessarily get it if they haven't been on a quest or through a war. I mean, most of us have been through a war, but still."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Nico and Will have managed to make it work," said Jason. "I mean, I know Will's seen a lot as a healer, but Nico's been to Tartarus and on multiple quests, and it's not like he had an easy time opening up when the two of them started dating."

"I think the answer to that riddle is that Will's amazing," said Piper.

Jason laughed. "Are you jealous?"

"Gods, no," said Piper. "Nico and Will are perfect for each other and I'm super excited for their wedding this summer. Besides, I'm not even sure if Will likes women. No, I'm not interested in him; I'm just kind of in awe."

Jason nodded. "Fair. Will is amazing. Which is good, because otherwise I would have needed to kick his ass sometime in the last seven years."

Piper laughed. "Yeah, that would have been a shame." Then she looked hard at Jason. "Why did you ask if I was jealous?"

Jason shifted awkwardly. "What, I'm not allowed to be curious?"

"You said when I moved in that my love life was my business," Piper reminded him.

"Damn, you're right; I did," said Jason. "Sorry."

Piper nodded once. "Apology accepted. But that's still not an answer. Why did you ask?"

Jason fidgeted with his now-empty mug, turning it around in his hands. "It's not that I never got over you. I want to make that clear. I haven't spent the last seven years pining for you or anything. I moved on and I dated other people and I genuinely enjoyed most of those relationships, and I learned and grew a lot from all of them. But at the same time—we need to be with people who get it. And spending this much time with you lately has made it clear that you get it, more than anyone else I've ever been with. Obviously. I don't know how Leo and Samantha have made things work, but I think it makes sense that four members of the Seven are in relationships with other members of the Seven, and that those relationships have lasted even though they started when we were all really young. And I guess I've been wondering if the things that broke us apart are still relevant—if they're still insurmountable or if enough time has passed that we could start things over." Jason ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry. I wasn't planning on springing this on you, but I made that comment and you asked about it and I'm not a good liar in the wee hours of the morning. I'm not going to assume you feel the same or anything, and your love life still _is_ your business and not mine, and I still think we can live together decently and I promise I won't be creepy, but I understand if you want to move out now that you know."

"Are those observations or desires?" Piper asked.

Jason blushed and looked down at his mug. "Desires."

"Good. At least you've realized that," said Piper.

"What?"

Piper sighed. "Jason. I'm my mother's daughter. I've been able to sense this building for like three weeks now. I just wasn't sure if you were aware of it. I'm glad you've figured it out."

"Okay . . . ," said Jason. "For the sake of getting on the same page, how do _you_ feel?"

"I've been thinking a lot about . . . us . . . too. But I'm really fragile right now, what with losing my dad and moving halfway across the country, and I'm really grateful for everything you've done for me, and I don't know if I'm just grateful or if I want to be with you, and I can't start a relationship when I'm not certain about that. Do you understand?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense."

"And I want you to know that I trust you," said Piper. "I really, really trust you, or I never would have moved in with you. But I'm not sure it would be healthy for us to keep living together right now while we're in this limbo. I really appreciate you letting me crash for the past month and a half. It's been great. But I'm going to go apartment-hunting tomorrow, okay?"

Jason let out a long breath. "Yeah. Okay."

Piper drank the last of her tea and stood to wash her cup. She looked over her shoulder at Jason. "I'm glad we talked about this, Jason, really. Thanks for being open with me, and for understanding."

Jason finished his tea and stood, too. "Thanks for the same."

OoOoO

What with the residential buildings Jason and Annabeth had spent the last couple years designing, it wasn't hard for Piper to find an apartment the next day. Jason took the following day off of work to help her pack up her stuff and move it to her new apartment, which was just in the next building over from Jason's, given how small New Rome was. They talked more this time as they packed together, now that the cloud of Piper's father's death had dissipated somewhat. The chatter was light, ranging from topic to topic—work, their friends, the past, the future—but beneath it ran an undercurrent of tension as both Piper and Jason avoided mentioning anything about their talk from two nights previous. Jason made sure his fingers never brushed Piper's as he handed her things to put in boxes or helped her fold her sheets and towels. Piper seemed to be making a similar effort, because their hands didn't touch even though they spent multiple hours packing together. Piper wound up taking the bed from Jason's guest room since the new apartment didn't come furnished and she'd sold her bed in Oklahoma, but Jason didn't mind; he didn't have guests that often anyway, since most of his friends lived in New Rome and Thalia never really stayed the night.

Soon enough, everything Piper still owned, plus Jason's spare bed, had been transferred to her new apartment. Piper gave Jason a hug, thanked him for his help, and told him to come over if he ever wanted company. Then she disappeared into her new apartment. It wasn't late yet, so Jason went into the office even though he'd told Annabeth he wouldn't. He worked a bit on the latest temple (Juventas) before returning to his apartment to make himself dinner. The apartment felt empty in a way it hadn't ever before. His decorations now looked inadequate without Piper's mixed in, and eating alone at the kitchen table felt wrong. But Piper was right. They both needed space if they were going to think about getting back together. That didn't mean it wouldn't hurt.

Luckily, Annabeth started coming back to work part-time the week after Piper moved out, so Jason didn't go too long without regular human contact. Annabeth was incredibly sleep-deprived all the time, but she knew how to work that way from all the quests she'd been on, so, although she didn't always make a lot of sense, she was still a helpful business partner, all things considered.

Weekly potlucks at Hazel and Frank's continued on apace. Hazel, Frank, and Nico were all at the point of bothering Percy and Annabeth for wedding tips, since it was March and their weddings were just months away, which left Jason and Piper to either listen awkwardly or else start a private conversation. Jason enjoyed hearing from Piper about the progress she, Frank, and Ella were making in uncovering demigods' history, and Piper seemed interested in Jason and Annabeth's work designing more temples. Their conversations stayed light and never strayed into the topic of their relationship status, but everyone in their friend group knew why Piper had moved out, and it felt to Jason like people were waiting for them to get together.

Jason wasn't waiting for that. He knew he wanted it—every time Piper hugged him, he ached to extend the contact, to hold her hand, to play with her hair, to kiss her. But Piper had been the one to break up with him, and he'd stopped expecting her to change her mind years ago, probably within a few weeks of the breakup. As she'd said, she was fragile now, and gratitude and affection were easily mistaken for one another. Even if she did manage to figure out what she wanted, Jason wasn't expecting the answer would be that she wanted him.

So he settled back into a modified version of his routine from before Piper moved back to California—living alone but seeing his friends frequently at potlucks and when he and Percy went out for drinks, though the latter event was less common now that Percy had a baby to worry about. Jason also bore a greater portion of the load at work than he had before Bianca was born, and, now that Percy and Annabeth were both returning at least partially to their jobs, he (along with Hazel, Frank, Piper, Nico, and Reyna) was put into the childcare rotation, and he wound up taking care of Bianca for a few hours every couple of weeks. Babies grew and changed so quickly in the early days of their lives that Jason was astounded every time he saw Bianca, and he thought (and tried not to think) about how much he hoped he too could be a father someday.

Spring turned to summer, and Camp Jupiter filled up with demigods who went to mortal schools for most of the year. Jason shifted his schedule so he spent less time at the architecture firm and more time on the Field of Mars teaching combat lessons. Most of his friends made similar choices, opting to shortchange their jobs in order to train the next generation of demigods. Sometimes Jason and Percy, or Jason and Nico, teamed up to demonstrate sword combat techniques; a couple of times, Jason and Piper even worked together to demonstrate how one fighter with a sword and another with a knife could cover each other's vulnerabilities when being attacked from multiple sides. Fighting back-to-back with Piper was exhilarating, but Jason tried not to dwell on that.

Nico and Will's wedding was the third weekend of June in New Rome. They both had maids of honor rather than best men—Hazel in Nico's case and Lou Ellen in Will's. Aside from that, they had no wedding party, mostly because they'd decided (with apologies to all their friends) that having the Seven standing on Nico's side of the aisle and a whole gaggle of children of Apollo on Will's would be a bit ridiculous. Reyna officiated the ceremony. She was no longer officially praetor, having ceded the role to someone younger, but everyone in their friend group continued to look to her as the leader whenever situations seemed especially official. In truth, it didn't much matter who officiated—Will and Nico would need to make their marriage legally official elsewhere anyway—but Reyna seemed pleased to be asked to officiate, and no one begrudged her the role.

At the ceremony, Jason sat in the second row, between Piper and Annabeth. He wasn't ashamed of the tears that ran down his face as Nico and Will said their vows (one of which included a promise on Nico's part not to bring Will back as a zombie if Will died first). Everyone cried as Will and Nico promised themselves to each other, and Jason was just glad that these days he and his friends had the time and space to feel and process their emotions. His only regret was that he couldn't hold Piper's hand as they cried side by side.

The ceremony was short, containing little other than the vows—while demigods believed in using Greek and Roman rituals for certain things, weddings didn't make the list—and then it was time for the reception. Will and Nico had scheduled their wedding for 4:30 in the afternoon so that the wait between the ceremony and dinner wouldn't be too awkwardly long. The food was delicious, and there were options for everyone—Jason noted that Piper, who sat beside him at a table containing the Seven plus Samantha, had no trouble getting enough to eat despite being a vegetarian. Everyone at the table chatted with everyone; most of the questers were especially eager to get to know Samantha, since she hadn't visited Camp Jupiter before.

When the music started for dancing, everyone turned in their seats to watch Will lead his mother out onto the dance floor. The two of them danced to "The Best Day" by Taylor Swift, and Will didn't seem even a bit embarrassed about the fact that the song was about a girl. Since Nico's mother was dead, Jason assumed regular dancing would begin once Will and his mother was done, but, instead, Hazel got up from the table and walked Nico out onto the dance floor and danced to Owl City's "Firebird." While Will and his mother had basically slow danced, Nico and Hazel twirled each other around and dipped one another low, laughing. Jason was so, so happy that the scared, insecure boy Cupid had outed in Croatia had grown up to be the man who was up there dancing now, not quite carefree, but close.

When Nico and Hazel were done dancing, it really was time for everyone to dance. "Footloose" came on the speakers, and Frank hurried to the dance floor to join Hazel, Percy and Annabeth on his heels. A few moments later, Leo and Samantha headed over as well, leaving Piper and Jason alone at the table.

Jason looked over at Piper. "So . . ."

"There's a hell of a lot of love in the air, huh?" Piper replied.

"Let's see," said Jason, pretending to think hard about Piper's remark. "We're at a wedding, and we just sat through a dinner where we were seventh- and eighth-wheeling a bunch of our friends. Yep, lots of love in the air."

"We haven't checked in since March," said Piper. "How do you feel about me now?"

Jason glanced around. It didn't seem anyone was watching him and Piper or listening to their conversation. "I still want to be with you," he admitted. "I'm not going to pressure you or anything. I'm plenty comfortable being single and, if we don't get together, I'll get over you eventually. I like you a lot, yeah, but it'll pass."

"What if we do get together?" Piper asked.

"Huh?"

"Will it still pass?"

Jason looked down at the grass between his chair and Piper's. "I don't know, but I don't think it would. I think we could stay together for a long, long time."

Piper's hand came into Jason's field of view and covered Jason's hand, which was gripping the side of his chair. "I think I'd like that."

Jason looked up at her. "Really?"

Piper rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Do you want a soliloquy?"

Jason let go of the chair and twined his fingers with Piper's. "Might be nice, yeah."

"Fine. Jason Grace, you are the best, strongest, smartest, kindest, most selfless man I have ever known, and that's saying something, because we have some pretty great friends. It was an honor to share quests with you as a teenager, classes with you as a college student, and an apartment with you—however briefly—as a young adult. You gave me a home and a feeling of belonging when I was worried both of those things had died with my father. I've never had to question whether I'm safe with you, even though we both live the sort of life where questioning whether we're safe is second nature. You're so kind, and so good, and so hot, and I really don't think I could be more caught up with you even if my mom and all my siblings were trying to make me fall for you. Happy?"

"Very," said Jason. "I suppose I owe you a soliloquy in return?"

Piper shook her head. "It doesn't work that way."

"Well, I want to give you one," said Jason. "Piper McLean, you are so strong, and clever, and resourceful, and quick-witted, and beautiful. You're the one I want on my side in a fight and the one I want to come home to after work. I've always cared for you and I've always been impressed with you, from our first quest together through our relationship and breakup and college and the last few years and especially these last few months. You made my apartment feel more like home than it ever had before, and I understand why you needed to leave but I was so sad when you did. You're amazing, and I'm so fond of you, and I'm so glad you want to be with me too."

Piper smiled. "We're as sappy as teenagers."

Jason smiled back. "Is that a problem?"

"No. It's just . . . well, I guess now I'm thinking about what happened when we were teenagers. I'm pretty sure that this time we'd be getting together of our own free will and not because any gods intervened. And I trust you not to lie to me anymore, like you did when we were up against Caligula. But what about the fake memories? You say you've always cared for me, but when does 'always' start?"

"Does it matter?" Jason asked, trying to ignore the fear—no, panic—swirling in his gut. If, after all this, Piper decided against a relationship with him . . .

"I think it does," said Piper sadly. "I don't just want to be on the same page; I want to know that we're reading the same book. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Jason conceded. "I guess my 'always' starts at the Wilderness School. I don't know if I can pin it down more definitively than that. The fake memories are still in my head, but there were also real things that happened while we were there."

"Okay," said Piper slowly.

"Look," said Jason. "Any couple that breaks up and gets back together has to tell a story with multiple beginnings. Ours just has another beginning on top of that. We can deal with that. Really."

"A story with many beginnings?" said Piper.

"Yeah," said Jason. "A story with many beginnings."

"Do you think anyone would mind if we kissed right now?" Piper asked.

"Given that we literally spent dinner banging our silverware on our glasses to get the grooms to kiss?" Jason asked. "No, I think kissing would be fine. Though we should probably keep it brief, dance for a while, and then go somewhere else to properly make out. Assuming you're okay with that at all."

Piper grinned. "I am very okay with that plan."

She and Jason both leaned forward, their mouths meeting midway between their chairs. It was a better kiss than any they'd shared as teenagers—Jason could feel immediately that they'd both had practice since they last kissed each other. But the sense of fireworks going off inside of inside of him was the same as he remembered from all those years ago, and it was more intense than it had been with anyone else he'd kissed since. Their lips worked against each other while their tongues probed each other, and several seconds passed before Jason remembered what he'd said about keeping it brief.

Jason pulled back, breathless, and noticed that Piper was breathing heavily as well. "Good kiss?" he asked.

"Great kiss," said Piper. "Dance with me?"

"Of course," said Jason, standing, taking Piper's hand, and pulling her gently to her feet. The two made their way to the dance floor, hand in hand. They danced to five songs, three fast and two slow. Jason was glad he'd partied enough in college to pick up a few dance moves; he could see the ever-serious Frank shuffling around awkwardly on the other side of the dance floor and was grateful he had a bit more skill than that. Piper, of course, was sinuous and cool, looking perfectly natural as she moved her feet to the fast songs and feeling like a dream as she swayed in his arms to the slow ones.

After five songs, though, Piper went up on tiptoe and whispered to Jason, "What do you say we make a break for it?"

Jason grinned. "Sounds perfect," he whispered back.

Piper took Jason's hand, and he felt a bit of electricity shoot through him despite the fact that he'd been slow dancing with her just minutes before. The two of them made their way out of the pavilion where the wedding reception was being held, crossed the dark Field of Mars, and entered the residential part of New Rome.

"My place or yours?" Piper asked.

Jason shrugged. "Whatever you want."

"Yours," Piper decided. "We're both comfortable there."

Under a minute later, they were at Jason's apartment building. They took the stairs to Jason's floor, and then Jason let them into the apartment itself. Jason stopped just inside the door, and Piper ran into him. "Couch or bed?" Jason asked without turning around.

"Bed," said Piper.

Now Jason turned. "How far are we taking this?"

"Just kissing," said Piper. "But beds are comfortable, and I trust you."

Jason smiled. "Cool. Sound great."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah." Jason ran a hand through his hair. "I told you months ago—I'm not into casual sex."

Piper smiled. "Right, you did."

"So, bed?" said Jason.

Piper stepped forward and took his hand. "Bed," she agreed.

And suddenly they were rushing across the living room and into the bedroom. Once there, Jason let go of Piper's hand and practically dove onto the bed. Piper giggled and then flopped down herself. Jason propped himself up on an elbow and tucked Piper's hair behind her ear. Piper leaned forward and brought her lips to Jason's. Jason knew the feel of electricity—he'd played with his father's lightning bolts and helped Leo with enough mechanical projects to know. This was it, this crackling, zinging sensation that thrummed all the way through him as Piper moved her lips against his and then opened her mouth. As their tongues met, Jason moved his hand through Piper's hair until he was gripping the back of her neck lightly. Piper's hand skated up Jason's arm to his shoulder and then down his side, coming to rest at his waist.

The kiss lasted at least a minute, if not several. Jason wasn't sure which god or Titan or Fate to thank for the blessing of being able to breathe through his nose, but he was grateful regardless. Finally, Piper pulled back, and Jason was surprised when she kissed his face all the way from the corner of his mouth over to his ear, and then he stopped thinking as her lips connected with his earlobe. She peppered small kisses across his ear, and his breath grew quick and shallow.

"Gods," said Jason when Piper finished kissing his ear. "That was amazing. How can I make you feel that good? It's been so long that I've forgotten what you like."

Piper laughed softly. "I don't think we ever got a chance to figure out each other's preferences, honestly. We never had any privacy when we were teenagers. But if you want to make me feel good, kiss my collarbone."

Jason wriggled down the bed to comply and then realized he was still in his dress clothes from the wedding, right down to his shoes. "Would you mind if we paused for a minute?" he asked. "I think I should put on pajamas or something."

Piper nodded. "Sure. Do you have like a tank top or something, actually? It might be nice to get out of this dress."

"Yeah," said Jason, though he privately mourned the statement. Piper's dress was tight and sparkly and looked amazing. But then, he intended to spend a lot of the next couple hours so close to her that he couldn't really see what she was wearing. He stood, walked to the dresser, and pulled out SPQR pajamas for himself and a white undershirt and athletic shorts for Piper. "Do you want to change in the guest room, or . . . ?"

Piper shook her head. "We can just turn around."

"Okay." Jason tossed Piper the clothes he'd grabbed for her and then turned to face the wall and changed. "I'm ready when you are."

"One second—okay, I'm good," Piper replied.

Jason turned around. He could see right through the shirt he'd given Piper, but he decided not to mention it and quickly focused his eyes back on her face. Piper was smiling. "You clean up well, and I love watching you dance and fight and cook and all the rest of it, but I think I like you best like this," she said.

"In pajamas?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," said Piper. "I think it was all our three a.m. tea dates that made me fall for you again."

Jason smiled. "So . . ."

Piper lay back down. "Yes," she said.

Jason rejoined her on the bed, making sure his head was positioned below hers so that he could her collarbone with his mouth. As soon as he began to kiss her there, Piper let out a very satisfying gasp. She continued gasping intermittently as he kissed his way from her shoulder to the hollow of her throat and then up her neck. "Gods," she mumbled, just before his lips connected with hers.

It was another electrifying kiss.

Piper spent the night.


End file.
